As we raised a cry of victory, Jack, desirous of a share in the glory of conquest, ran close to the creature, firing his pistol into its side, when he was sent sprawling over and over by a movement of its tail, excited to a last galvanic effort by the shot.
Being in no way hurt, he speedily recovered his feet, and declared he had given it its quietus.
`I hope the terrific noise you made just now was the signal of victory,' said my wife, drawing near, with the utmost circumspection, and holding Franz tightly by the hand. `I was half-afraid to come, I assure you.'
`See this dreadful creature dead at our feet; and let us thank God that we have been able to destroy such an enemy.'
`What's to be done with him now?' asked Jack.
`Let us get him stuffed,' said Fritz, `and set him up in the museum amongst our shells and corals.'
`Did anybody ever think of eating serpents?' inquired Franz.
`Of course not!' said his mother. `Why, child, serpents are poisonous—it would be very dangerous.'
`Excuse me, my dear wife,' said I. `First of all, the boa is not poisonous; and then, besides that, the flesh even of poisonous snakes can be eaten without danger; as, for instance, the rattlesnake, from which can be made a strong and nourishing soup, tasting very like good chicken broth—of course, the cook must be told to throw away the head, containing the deadly fangs.
`It is remarkable that pigs do not fear poisonous snakes, but can kill and eat them without injury. An instance of this occurs to my memory. A vessel on Lake Superior, in North America, was wrecked on a small island abounding in rattlesnakes, and for that reason uninhabited.